Candidates' list by March end : Digvijaya Singh

Hyderabad, All India Congress Committee general secretary, in-charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs, Digvijay Singh arrived in Hyderabad today on a three-day visit to launch an exercise for selecting party candidates for the ensuing elections to Lok Sabha and state Assembly.

After receiving Digvijay at the airport,the newly appointed PCC presidents of the two regions, Ponnala Lakshmaiah (Telangana) and N Raghuveera Reddy (AP), accompanied him to a hotel where they were closeted in a meeting. Digvijay briefed Ponnala and Raghuveera about the reviews and deliberations he would be holding over the next three days, party sources said.

He will hold a meeting with the party's election committee of Telangana this evening and also review the Congress activities in the region. The AICC general secretary will focus specially on party affairs in Telangana as the Congress pinned all its hopes on the region after granting statehood.

The PCC is said to have shortlisted names of three candidates from each constituency in the region. Along with the election committee, Digvijay will review the names and also receive fresh applications, if any. The names would then be forwarded to the Congress' central election committee for final decision, party sources here said. The issue of Congress forging an electoral alliance with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti is also expected to be discussed at the Telangana election committee meeting, the sources added.

Though the Telangana Congress leaders are averse to any tie-up with the TRS after the latter refused to merge the outfit with the ruling party, the AICC leadership is said to be keen on an alliance. The Telangana Congress leaders, however, left the issue to the high command's discretion.

Digvijay will tomorrow hold talks with different party panels of Telangana on the poll strategy. On Saturday, he is scheduled to hold meetings with the party's election committee, campaign committee and manifesto committee of (residuary) Andhra Pradesh.

-PTI